Homeschool Buyers Co-op
82,146
CONNECT WITH US:
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
Geography with Google's My Maps | ||
| Reviewed by Diane Flynn Keith | ||
|
|
|||
| Resource: | Geography with Google's My Maps | ||
| Provider: | Google's My Maps | ||
| Summary: | If you've ever visited MapQuest (or Google Maps or Yahoo Maps), you know that you can pan and zoom a world map from your computer. But did you know you can customize that map for your homeschooling? | ||
| Description: | Google calls it "My Maps." The beauty of My Maps is: 1. It's free (except for some text ads). 2. It's easy. 3. Google stores it for you and provides a web address (a URL) that you can email to friends or family to share your map. My Maps requires a free Google account. Here's how it works: 1. Go to Google Maps http://maps.google.com 2. Click the My Maps tab toward the top left. 3. Click the "Create New Map" button. (If you don't have a Google account, it will prompt you to sign up.) Once the map comes up, use the features on the map's menu to customize it by adding colored pins and labels to it, draw lines on it, or even insert pictures. You can also use the "Featured Content" menu on the left side of the screen for ideas and examples of various interactive maps you can make with this tool including maps with videos, maps that measure distances from one point to another, maps depicting places of interest, maps that provide instantaneous weather information and much, much more! My Maps made the news last October during the San Diego fires. A public radio station set up a map to track the fires, evacuated areas, and public shelters. They broadcast the website address and soon thousands of area residents were visiting their map to learn about the fires. Once I started thinking about My Maps for homeschooling, the possibilities seemed endless. *Label a map with events from your history studies. *Use the map as a quiz by putting questions onto it. *Share the map with other families in a reading group. When a child completes a book, let her add a pin to the map indicating where the author was from or where the story took place. *Help young children trace routes to the grocery store or to Grandma's house. *Use it as a diary for a family vacation. One caveat: by default, the map is "Public," which means that any text in the labels might cause your map to show up in other people's Google searches. You can click a button that makes it "Unlisted," so that only someone who keys in the exact map address can find it. |
||
| Contributed by: | Diane Flynn Keith, ©Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved. Diane Flynn Keith publishes the rave-reviewed ClickSchooling® daily ezine with 12,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your homeschooling, save time and money, and have more fun learning with your children, get your FREE subscription to ClickSchooling® now at http://www.homefires.com/free.asp. | ||
| C A T E G O R I E S | |||
| Orientation: | General | ||
| Subjects: | Geography | ||
| Teaching Methods: | Online Interactive | ||
| I N T E N D E D F O R: | |||
| Ages: | 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18 | ||
| Grades: | Pre-K,K,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 | ||
| F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N | |||
| Web Site: | http://maps.google.com | ||
 |
About Us | GroupBuys | Field Trips | Free Curriculum | Privacy Policy
736 Midland Way | Emerald Hills, CA 94062 | 650-648-0808 | Contact Us
© 2005-2010 Homeschool Buyers Club, Inc. (DBA Homeschool Buyers Co-op) All rights reserved
